diff ~/p/daniel-vassallo ~/p/julia-evans

Daniel Vassallo vs Julia Evans

Products, revenue & stack compared side by side.

Daniel Vassallo

Ex-Amazon engineer who popularized the small bets portfolio approach

@dvassallo United States

Julia Evans

Montreal developer behind Wizard Zines, illustrated guides to computing fundamentals

@b0rk Canada

Daniel Vassallo vs Julia Evans at a glance

Both Daniel Vassallo and Julia Evans are bootstrapped solo founders. They overlap in Educators & Course Creators, Creators & Writers and Developer Tools. Daniel is based in United States, Julia in Montreal, Canada. Daniel started in 2019 and Julia in 2018. Daniel Vassallo has 4 products listed on IndieMakerList vs Julia Evans' 5. Daniel has sold 1 product. On revenue, Daniel self-reports $210K profit in 9 months (info products) (as of 2020) and Julia $101,558 in 2018 (zine business). On X, Daniel has about 205K followers and Julia about 192K.

Side-by-side comparison

Based in: Daniel Vassallo: United States; Julia Evans: Montreal, Canada
Started: Daniel Vassallo: 2019 (7 yrs indie); Julia Evans: 2018 (8 yrs indie)
Revenue (self-reported): Daniel Vassallo: $210K profit in 9 months (info products)self-reported, as of 2020 · source for Daniel Vassallo's revenue; Julia Evans: $101,558 in 2018 (zine business)self-reported, as of 2018 · source for Julia Evans's revenue
Products listed: Daniel Vassallo: 4; Julia Evans: 5
Product status: Daniel Vassallo: 3 active · 1 acquired; Julia Evans: 5 active
X followers: Daniel Vassallo: 205K; Julia Evans: 192K
Categories: Daniel Vassallo: Educators & Course Creators Community Builders Creators & Writers Developer Tools; Julia Evans: Educators & Course Creators Creators & Writers Developer Tools
Style: Daniel Vassallo: solobootstrappedbuilds in publicexited; Julia Evans: solobootstrapped
Courses & resources: Daniel Vassallo: 3; Julia Evans: 9

Revenue figures are self-reported by each maker and not audited; dates and scope differ. Highlighted categories are shared by both.

Tech stack

No tools in common in their publicly listed stacks. See the indie maker tech stack.

Daniel Vassallo

No stack shared publicly.

Julia Evans

No stack shared publicly.

How they build

Daniel Vassallo

Place many small bets instead of one big bet; outcomes are hard to predict.
Keep things simple and avoid leaving your fate to a single employer or product.
Build an audience by sharing what you know openly.
Optimize for independence and optionality over prestige.

Julia Evans

Focus on fundamentals that will still be true in ten years.
It is normal not to know something basic yet; avoid gatekeeping.
Explain only the most important ideas, in short pages and plain language.
Deeply understanding the systems underneath you makes hard problems solvable.
Teaching computer things directly to developers can be a real business without ads or sponsors.

Learn from Daniel and Julia

Daniel Vassallo

[book] The Good Parts of AWS
[course] Everyone Can Build a Twitter Audience
[community] Small Bets

Julia Evans

[book] The Secret Rules of the Terminal
[book] How Git Works
[book] How DNS Works
[book] Bite Size zine pack · $38
[book] HTTP: Learn your browser's language!
[book] Your Linux Toolbox · $29.95
+3 more on Julia's profile

Daniel Vassallo vs Julia Evans FAQ

Who makes more money, Daniel Vassallo or Julia Evans?

Daniel Vassallo self-reports $210K profit in 9 months (info products) (as of 2020) and Julia Evans self-reports $101,558 in 2018 (zine business). By these self-reported figures, Daniel Vassallo's reported monthly revenue is higher. Figures are unaudited and may cover different periods or businesses, so treat them as rough indicators.

Who has built more products, Daniel Vassallo or Julia Evans?

Daniel Vassallo has 4 products listed (including Small Bets, Userbase and Single Server); Julia Evans has 5 products listed (including Wizard Zines, Mess With DNS and Memory Spy).